Hi Pudding,
TTouch is a very gentle training and rehabilitation method, with the basic theory being that an animal's posture impacts on its behaviour. For example, a dog who is tense in the lower back and tail may have a clamped tail, and is likely to react in certain ways (usually fairly anxious), and a dog who has lots of tension in the neck will usually hold his head high and this will often go along with being quite reactive.
So we assess an animal by making observations of its gait, changes in texture/pattern in the fur, and its responses to being touched (eg if you are stroking a dog gently down the back and at a certain point it always sits down or yawns, chances are it has tension in that area of its back
).
We then use a series of circular touches, slides and lifts of the skin which give the dog feedback about its body by using different neurological pathways to the norm (a bit like when you cross your legs the "wrong" way). This helps the dog to learn about itself and it is often then able to correct its posture and become more relaxed.
We also use groundwork, which is when we guide the dog slowly around and over a series of low obstacles, weaves and surfaces (car mats, wooden boards etc). By going slowly we allow the dog to really think about where it is placing its feet and how to move its body properly (eg some dogs may be tense in the spine and not be able to curve their body around a corner, instead swinging their back end out like a big lorry turning a corner).
As well as teaching the dog to move in a better way, the groundwork also really builds confidence as it encourages the dog to try new things in a very non-threatening way (if a dog cannot walk over a particular surface - dogs with noise phobias often find shiny surfaces difficult - then we don't force it, but we give it time and encouragement until it tries the surface out of its own will).
We also use various bodywraps and t-shirts which can help bring the dog awareness of its body and make it feel more secure.
TTouch can help with all kinds of behaviour - fear-aggression, noise phobias, travel sickness, anxiety about being handled, it can help agility dogs who keep missing contacts, it's BRILLIANT for building the human-dog bond, helps with overall wellbeing and generally relaxes the dog (actually it's quite relaxing for the human too).
I tend to think of it these days as teaching the dog transferrable skills - we might not necessarily directly address the "problem" behaviour but we teach the dog to be more relaxed and confident which usually makes the behaviour disappear.
Edited to add this link which shows Sarah Fisher doing TTouch with a shelter cat:
http://www.tilleyfarm.co.uk/catvideo1.htmlHope that helps
Claire
